Polly
by uwsbitch
Summary: Will Hasltead gets an unusual case when a girl that has been kidnapped is able to run away. But her treatment isn't the only thing that supposed to worry him. Jay Halstead is also in this because who doesn't love the halstead brothers?
1. He called me Susan

As someone once said, the best day of your life can start as a normal one, usual. You wake up, have breakfast and go to work like any normal day. You do not think much about it, just do it, as always. Maybe I was also like this for the worse.

For Will Halstead the day started like this. He opened his eyes and did everything normal, like any other day. A text from his fiancé were in his phone "good morning my love" it said. A smile came across his face as he replied. He got up and was about to get breakfast when a strange feeling came across him, like something was telling him "stay in bed today, don't even try it". He had this feeling so many times, specially being a doctor, but for some reason today was different, today he considered listening to it. After a second, he let it go and started his routine.

Almost an hour later he was parking his car, walking through Gaffney Chicago Medical Center's automatic door, and getting in the ED. He politely spoke to the people he faced, including Maggie, and made his way to the break room, where he stood only for a few minutes, seeing and joking with his fiancé as he got his medical coat over his scrubs and heard Maggie screaming that some trauma were coming. He left the room and looked at the paramedics coming with a stretcher.

"Female, hit by a car…Well, the driver said she threw herself in front of the car... Positive L.O.C (level of consciousness) with obvious head and abdominal trauma." Said the young paramedic as Will, Natalie and April came on her way, meeting the stretcher and starting to follow it by side.

The girl had brown hair that were covered by a huge bandage across her forehead; she was skinny and did not look anything more than 15 years old. Her pale face had scratches and bruise in most parts of it.

"Trauma 2" yelled Maggie.

They maneuver the stretcher and after Will's count moved the girl to a proper hospital bed.

"Airway looking clear." Dr. Natalie said after a small check on her mouth. She grabbed her small flashlight and opened the girl's eyes with her fingers, checking for her pupils. "Pupils responsive."

That was the moment where the girl opened her eyes and blinked a few times, coming back to conscience. Will, which were on by the wall checking the work that Nat were doing, came closer to the girl and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Halstead. You are in the hospital. Can you tell us your name?" He said, as the girl started to gasps for air. "Okay, that's okay." He said as he began to listen her chest with his stethoscope. "Lungs are good, let's-"

That was when it got him; the girl's right pulse had deep marks that were probably made by ropes. The marks were reddish and blue in some points. His eyes widened when he noticed that, and as fast as he could he looked at her legs, his heart beating fast as he saw the same marks in her both ankles. "You didn't just threw yourself, did you?" He said with calm and tenderness. She quickly shook her, saying no in despair.

"We need to get her in the CT." Natalie said looking at Will, breaking his stare at the girl, bringing the red hair back in to reality as his thoughts were questioning what had happened to the girl. "Yeah, she's good to go." Was the only answer he was able to make.

In the moment the words left Will's mouth the girl's eyes were widened and she shook her head, and reached for Will's hand. He grabbed her hand and understanding what she was asking, said:

"I'm not leaving you. I'm gonna be with you. Ok? I promise. "

Her breathing started to calm down as Will looked a Natalie and nodded his head. The stretcher started to move, Will following by its side, never leaving the girl's hand.

Will was waiting for the girl's tests results to come in the nurse station, Natalie by his side, both looking to room where the girl were now sleeping.

"So you think she was abused somehow?" she said her usual voice.

"Well, as far as I could see, I'm pretty sure" he said, "She couldn't speak, and I couldn't just ask. I already asked for Dr. Charles to come in, but he was busy, now I'm only waiting for the results to come so I can call PD and Goodwin."

Natalie nodded keeping his eyes in him, seeing the frustration and anger in his face.

"Will, results are back on your Jane Doe." Said Maggie handling him an iPad.

Will took it and started to look at the results with Nat, putting the tablet between the both of them, so they could analyze it together.

"Displaced tibial facture." Will said almost in a whisper. Nat touched the tabled looking at other pictures.

"Ribs factures, too. Lungs look fine. How fast was that car?" She asked to him.

"Look at the angle on this elbow" he stopped for a moment "it was must likely broken a while ago. This is a fracture that never healed right or was never treated."

They looked at each other for a few seconds.

"I'm gonna talk to Goodwin and you call Jay" Nat said in an assertive voice and left Will staring at the girl through the glass door.

He slowly walked in the room, looked at her for a moment and stood still beside her bed, as she remained with her eyes closed, something told Will that she was not sleeping, not completely. Maybe it was his experience with Jay, this is one of Jay's ways to avoid conversations, pretending to be asleep and wait for the person to leave.

"I need to talk to you, if that's ok." Will calmly said, with a soft voice, not wanting to scare the girl. She took a deep breath and opened hers eyes, looking at Will. Her eyes were filled with fear and sadness. "Do you feel up to talk?" She nodded.

"You didn't throw yourself at that car. You were running from someone." Even though it weren't questions, the girl kept nodding her hair to every sentence made by Will. "We just need to know your name, so we can help you not be scared."

"He- He called me Susan but I – I think it's Nina." She said.

Will keep his eyes in her, thinking this could only be a nightmare.


	2. Thank you for your help

The automatic door at Chicago Med was open once again, revealing the entrance of Jay Halstead in the room, wearing his usual black clothes that highlighted even more the badge that were hanging on his neck. As soon as he walked in Maggie's eyes looked for his and he came to her encounter.

"The girl in being prep for surgery, Will's with her. Goodwin is waiting for you in her office." Maggie says pointing to the direction he was supposed to go. "Thank you." He said, giving the desk a small slap and making his way further into the ED.

On his way he stopped in front of a room where nurses were making her job, connecting wires and checking vitals as his brother was talking to a young girl, explaing to her what was being made. Will lifted his head and notice Jay looking at them, he stopped talking only for a moment and nodded at his brother. The girl, Nina as she was being called now, also started to look at Jay before her eyes went back to Will.

"That's my brother. He's gonna to help you." Will said at her with a small smile on his face.

Jay symbolized at Will that he was leaving, saying "Goodwin" as he made his way to the elevator.

He knocked on the door and made his way into Goodwin's office. Natalie and Dr. Charles were there too, and the silence suddenly filled the room as all eyes were in him now.

"Hello, Detective" said Goodwin with a small breath.

He nodded politely at the three of them.

"Well, Intelligence were able to identify the girl as Nina Wheeler. Her parents filled a missing person report 10 years ago, when she was 8, big case at the time. Unfortunately, no one could find her. So the police just gave up…" He said the last part with some kind of shame.

There was a heavy feeling in the room that no one could really point their fingers in.

"Well, her injures match if years of abuse…My God…Why someone would do it?"

Jay thought about telling the circumstances in which the girl was taken, but decided that right now was better not to. Natalie had Owen and didn't deserve to have this in her conscience.

"Ever since she arrived in the hospital, she created a bound with Will, she sees him as some kind of protector –" Dr. Charles were interrupted by the knock on the door, that showed Will walking into the room.

"Sorry to interrupt. She just got into surgery…" He started.

"Will, as we were saying, she created a bound with you and it's really important for you to keep it. There's not breaking that bound now, understood?" Dr. Charles said serious looking at Will.

"I have no Psych training, what if I do something wrong and she just...I don't know…" Was the answer the ED doctor gave, mostly to everyone in room.

"Will, we understand, but Nina spent the last 10 years in a environment with little to no control over anything in her life. We need to break that pattern by letting her know that she's in control here. Whatever she wants, she gets." The psychiatrist said and everyone person in the room nodded. "We'll have to work together on this."

"Okay." Said Will.

"I already got in contact with the family, they are on their way here." Said Jay looking a Goodwin. "We are still trying to find whoever did this, but 'til now nothing."

"Once she's out of surgery and feels up to talk, you can go in and take her testimony" Goodwin answer him "When this story gets out, the press gonna fill this hospital, so if you could keep us updated that will be great."

"Sure, didn't even have to ask." Jay said with a reassuring smile.

"For now, I think is it. Let's brace ourselves for what is coming."

They left the room, Will close to Jay.

"Hey, you good?" Jay asked his brother when they were in the hallway.

"Yeah. Just...What if I say or do something that makes her freak? Huh? What if she snaps? I'm worry."

"Nah, you've been my therapist for years now, you gonna be fine."

Will just smiled at him.

Hours passed while Nina was in surgery. Will was enjoying a few minutes in the break room, without being able to relax. His thoughts kept going to what this girl had to go through during 10 years of her life. The kicks, the punches, the sexual abuse...His thoughts were interrupted when Maggie walked into the room.

"Dr. Halstead your patient is out of surgery" She said in a soft voice.

"Maggie, today I'm gonna be the whole shift with her, ok? Just ask someone to cover me, please?"

"Already did that. Don't worry."

He thanked her and got up texting Jay informing him that the girl was going to awake any minute.

Will arrived in the ICU and saw two guards were in front of a room, he introduced himself to the guards and made his way him, sitting in a chair next to the girl. She was still asleep but could wake up at any moment.

Few minutes later, Mrs. Goodwin appeared with a sobbing lady and a really worried man. The woman had short hair, brown, her eyes were red and puffy, she was holding the hand of a bald sir, blue eyes the were also puffy, but he was trying to hold on the best he could. Seeing the scene, Will got up and went to their encounter.

"It's her. Oh Charlie, it's her." The sobbing lady said, between a mix of sobs and laughs, holding what seems to be the father. Will couldn't help but smile a little. At least they had their kid back.

"Dr. Halstead, they are Mrs. and Mr. Wheeler, Jane and Charlie, this is is Dr. Will Halstead he was responsible for taking care of your daughter when she arrived." Mrs. Goodwin introduced them. Jane kept crying but looked at Will and said thank you to the doctor, the man, Mr. Wheeler, shook his hand and said "thank you so much" to the doctor.

After a few moments and medical terms, they made their way to room where Nina was already waking up.

Will came closer, not knowing how she would react. It has been 10 years since she saw those people, maybe she didn't remember them, maybe she blamed them. He couldn't know, so he made his way to the right side of the bed and watched as she came back into the world.

"Hey Nina. How are you feeling?" He asked.

The mom let out a huge sob, making Nina scared as she looked at Will in panic.

"Nina, your parents are here. They came to see you."

She didn't answer at first and Will and Nina could feel the parents and Goodwin stare at them, suffocating them.

"I would've known you anywhere. You didn't change anything. Still my perfect baby girl." Her mom said, not holding herself back any longer, reaching for her daughter's hand.

Nina jumped and let out a scream and fast as possible Will started to reassure her that it was fine, nobody would hurt her.

"I think we might give Nina some time. She just woke up. We can come back in a few minutes…" Mrs. Goodwin said, as Will thanked her with his eyes. He truly understood what the couple had been through and felt so sorry for them.

They all left the room, leaving Nina and Will alone again.

"Better?" Will said.

She nodded her head.

"I think it's not a good time to tell you that my brother is coming to ask you a few questions. But I can send him away with you want."

"That's okay." She said with hoarse voice.

"Sure?"

She just nodded and looked at the TV in her room.

"You want to watch some TV?"

She nodded.

Will made his way to grab the remote and started to change channels.

"Do you like anything in particular?"

"Movies. I like movies."

"Me too."

He put on a movie and they both sat in there in silence 'til Jay came into the room. Will got up of his chair and introduced them.

"Nina, this is my brother's Jay. Jay this's Nina."

Jay gave her a condescending smile.

"Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

She looked at Will, waiting for his approval. "Only if you feel up to it." He said slightly touching her shoulder, and she took a deep breath and nodded.

"We need your help to grab him, ok? So anything you can tell me, gonna help. Ok? Even if it seems insignificant to you. So…" He looked at Will. "Can you tell me his name?"

Will felt like filter. Every question and answer in that room were being directed at him, and he had to give his approval, show that it was good, that they wouldn't break, to both Jay and Nina.

"Joseph. Joseph Ingles." She said to Jay but looking at Will. Jay took note of that.

"That's great. Excellent. Can you tell me anything about where you were living? If it was a house, maybe a apartment…"

"It was a house. Two stores. With a basement." She said not really looking at anyone this time. Jay looked at Will.

"How about roads? Could you hear cars?"

Tears started to roll down Nina's face. "He didn't- He didn't let me go outside."

"We can stop if you want to." Jay said at her.

She nodded at Will, making tears fall even faster on her face.

"Yeah. Let's take a break." Will said.

"You were great Nina. Amazing. Ok? Thank you for your help." Jay said as he left the room.

Jay left the room, on his way out he stopped for a moment a few feets away from the door. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him, or at least the place he was in. He hovered around the perimeter and asked for back up.


	3. Just checking on you

The late night came in Chicago. Will still had not leave Nina's room, Natalie came up to check on him a while back, making sure he had eaten and was sleeping. As she imagined he didn't. It's not like he was extremely worry about the girl, but he felt so sorry about her. She still didn't acknowledge her real family, but they were there, keeping their distance as a total stranger watched her sleep. She was exhausted, so was Will. However, he couldn't sleep.

He watched as the guards in the front door ended their shift, making their way to others. Will didn't recognize any of them, but he politely nodded at them when they looked inside of the room. Something took his thoughts away for the day when Keyes took Jay, making him remember how he felt helpless while the intelligence kept doing her job, the agony he felt when his brother came to the hospital and how he just wanted to make sure he was okay. Jay was taken for only two days, Will could only imagine how it would have been if it was 10 years. 10 years without his brother, without knowing if he was dead or alive, if he was hungry or cold, if he was in pain. Just the thought of it made him take his phone and call Jay.

He slowly left the room checking to see if Nina was still asleep. She looked peaceful, so he motioned to the cop he was leaving for a few minutes and made his way to the hallway, clicking in Jay's phone number.

He arrived in a hallway where no rooms were being used. He thought there we could have some privacy during his call and do not disrupt anyone's sleep. It was almost 2 a.m.; the hospital was almost asleep, asleep as it could be. There were only two nurses in the floor now, just in case some emergency happened. Doctors already made their night rounds and that was probably one or two resting somewhere. His thoughts were interrupt when Jay's voice came on his phone.

"Hey, is everything good?" Jay asked almost in concern.

"Yeah, just wanted to check on you. Are you still at work?"

"Will, it's almost 2 a.m, even Voight knows we need to sleep."

"Sorry, I was just…I don't know, just wanted to know if you were okay"

The line went silence for a moment. Jay understood what was happening.

"Will, I'm okay. I'm safe. Could you get some sleep?"

"I don't think so."

"Then do us all a favor and go to sleep. I'm gonna show up there in the morning, sounds good for you?"

"Yeah. Just- Goodnight"

"Go to sleep!" Jay said before ending the call.

Will let out a small laugh.

When he was making his way to the room, someone knocked him across the wall and pain began to form in his right arm. He took a millisecond to see the man in front of him and feel the gun barrel against his chest. The man was in his 50's, but was strong enough to keep him pressed against the wall, Will knew who that was, Joseph. The doctor thought about moving but then he imagined the man pressing the trigger, it wasn't a good vision.

"You stole her from me. She is mine." The man said in a fast and husky voice. His breath smelled like alcohol, making Will try to get as far away as he could in that moment, which was only moving his head to the side.

"Did you hear me?" The man said pressing the gun right into Will's diaphragm, making hard for him to breath. He thought about calling the cops that were just a few feet away, scream for help at anyone who could hear him. Something. Anything that could take him out of there, but the fear of being shot was louder.

"You can't steal her from me and get out. I made her in what she is today. Susan is my masterpiece, you think it was easy? All those year..."

Will was disgusted, the anger inside him grew as the man kept talking about what he did to the girl and without thinking, he pushed the man away from him.

That small second when his impulse took over was enough for the man to pull the trigger, making Will's chest fill with blood. He didn't feel any pain neither heard the sound the gun made through the silent halls. He just fell into the ground, leaving a trail of blood in the wall. The cops came running a few seconds later, saying "shoots fired, civilian down" into their radios. Joseph was getting ready to shoot one more time and finish the job he started on Will, but the cops were faster and pulled the trigger on him, making the bullet go through his head.

The cops ran to Will's encounter, followed by the night nurses. One of the nurse checked his pulse, finding one as the other one came with gauze to try to stop the bleeding, but the bullet hole in the wall said it would be almost impossible.

"WE NEED HELP. Someone page Rhodes! ASAP!" The nurse yelled. And in a matter of minutes Will was being lifted up of the ground and put into one of the empty rooms. Wires being connect in his skin, as he scrub was being tore open.

Connor ran over into the room, as Bekker followed him close behind. The couple looked at a motionless Will, laying on the bed. They would've took a moment to brace themselves, but that would've costed Will's life, so they didn't really think about it for now.

"SATs?" Connor yelled.

"Blood pressure 58/33 mm Hg; pulse 144 bpm; respiratory rate 33 bmp; and oxygen saturation 85%." The nurse said.

"Need to intubate." Ava said already on her way to Will's head, opening his mouth and trying to insert the tube in him.

"Let's put in on a femoral catheter" Connor said in hurry. "I want Fluids, un-crossed red blood cells and 2 units of FFP."

"Got it." Ava announced as she tubbed Will, already getting her stethoscope and placing it in Will's chest. "Decreased breath sounds in both hemithoracic cavities." She grabbed the FAST scan now. "Fluid on the pericardium, gonna need a chest tube."

The nurses started to run, grabbing what she needed.

"Can we get an X-Ray here?" Connor asked for the nurse.

"I'm sorry, just in the ED...It will take way too long." The reply made Connor look at Ava in almost despair.

Ava got the items she needed for the chest tube and started to open Will's chest, trying not to focus on anything else.

"We gonna need an OR-"

Connor was cut by a scream. Natalie was in the doorway, crying as all eyes were on her for a moment.

"What happened? Oh my God, Will."

Connor and Ava looked at each other, understanding what needed to be done.

"Right chest tube in. Going to the left side." Ava said.

Connor made his way to Natalie, her eyes begging for answer.

"It's a GSW, we don't know anything more than that" Connor almost screamed so Natalie could hear him from outside of the room. Maggie, who was now arriving, heard too. Maggie hugged Nat as she cried, but the nurse kept looking at Connor as he said "it's not good." without making any sound. Maggie eyes closed and she holded Nat a little closer.

"Still hypotensive, two more units of blood now." Connor ordered as Ava finished the last chest tube.

"Heart rate decreased from 140s to 120s" Announced one nurse.

"Let's get him in the OR NOW!" Connor yelled.

"OR 2 is available."

They started to move Will. Natalie tried to look but the amount of blood coming from him made her turn away and hide her face in Maggie's chest. Maggie just watched as Will was being transported to the OR. She stopped looking for a moment to check her surroundings, one cop was making a call, while the other was covering a body that stood in the middle of the hallway. Fresh blood still on the wall. Tears left her eyes without her knowledge. She watched as another alarm went off in the floor, this time coming from Nina Wheeler's room. She heard someone screaming Will's name, maybe it was the girl, but she couldn't do anything right now other than hold Nat.


	4. Not like this

The late night came in Chicago. Will still had not leave Nina's room, Natalie came up to check on him a while back, making sure he had eaten and was sleeping. As she imagined he didn't. It's not like he was extremely worry about the girl, but he felt so sorry about her. She still didn't acknowledge her real family, but they were there, keeping their distance as a total stranger watched her sleep. She was exhausted, so was Will. However, he couldn't sleep.

He watched as the guards in the front door ended their shift, making their way to others. Will didn't recognize any of them, but he politely nodded at them. Something took his thoughts away for the day when Keyes took Jay, feeling helpless while the intelligence kept doing her job, when he found out his brother came to the hospital and how he just wanted to make sure he was okay. Jay was taken for only two days, Will could only imagine how it would have been if it was 10 years. 10 years without his brother, without knowing if he was dead or alive, if he was hungry or cold, if he was in pain. Just the thought of it made him take his phone and call Jay.

He slowly left the room checking to see if Nina was still asleep. She looked peaceful, so he motioned to the cop he was leaving for a few minutes and made his way to the hallway, clicking in Jay's phone number.

He arrived in a dark hallway, where no rooms where being used. He thought there we could have some privacy during his call and do not disrupt anyone's sleep. It was almost 2 a.m.; the hospital was almost asleep, asleep as he could be. There were only two nurses in the floor now, just in case some emergency happened. Doctors already made their night rounds and that was probably one or two resting somewhere. His thoughts were interrupt when Jay's voice came on his phone.

"Hey, is everything good?" Jay asked almost in concern.

"Yeah, just wanted to check on you. Are you still at work?"

"Will, it's almost 2 a.m, even Voight knows we need to sleep."

"Sorry, I was just…I don't know, just wanted to know if you were okay"

The line went silence for a moment. Jay understood what was happening.

"Will, I'm okay. I'm safe. Could you get some sleep?"

"I don't think so."

"Then do us all a favor and go to sleep. I'm gonna show up there in the morning, sounds good for you?"

"Yeah. Just- Goodnight"

"Go to sleep!" Jay said before ending the call.

Will let out a small laugh.

When he was making his way to the room, someone knocked him across the wall and pain began to form in his right arm. He took a millisecond to see the man in front of him and feel the gun barrel against his chest. The man was in his 50's, but was strong enough to keep him pressed against the wall, Will thought about moving but then he imagined the man pressing the trigger, it wasn't a good vision.

"You stole her from me. She is mine." The man said in a fast and husky voice. His breath smelled like alcohol, making Will try to get as far as he could in that moment, which was only moving his head to the side.

"Did you hear me?" The man said pressing the gun right into Will's diaphragm, making hard for him to breath. He thought about calling the cops that were just a few feet away, scream for help at anyone who could hear him. Something. Anything that could take him out of there.

"You can't steel her from me and get out. I made her in what she is today. Susan is my masterpiece, you think it was easy?"

Will was disgusted, the anger inside him grew as the man kept talking and without thinking, he pushed the man away from him.

That small second when his impulse took over was enough for the man to pull the trigger, making Will's chest fill with blood. The doctor fell into the ground, leaving a trail of blood in the wall. The cops came running a few seconds later, saying "shoots fired, civilian down" into their radios. Joseph was getting ready to shoot one more time and finish the job he started on Will, but the cops were faster and pulled the trigger on him, making the bullet go through his head.

The cops ran to Will's encounter, followed by the night nurses. One of the nurse checked his pulse, finding a weak one as the other one came with gauze to try to stop the bleeding, but the bullet hole in the wall said it would be almost impossible.

"WE NEED HELP. A SCREATCHER! Someone page Rhodes! ASAP!" The nurse yelled. And in a matter of minutes Will was being lifted up of the ground and put into one of the rooms. Wires being connect in his skin, as he scrub was being tore open.

Connor ran over into the room, as Bekker followed him close behind. The couple looked at a motionless Will, laying on the bed. They would've took a moment to brace themselves, but that would've costed Will's life, so they didn't really think about it for now.

"SATs?" Connor yelled.

"blood pressure 58/33 mm Hg; pulse 144 bpm; respiratory rate 33 bmp; and oxygen saturation 85%." The nurse said.

"Need to intubate." Ava said already on her way to Will's head, opening his mouth and trying to insert the tube in him.

"Let's put in on a femoral catheter" Connor said in hurry. "I want Fluids, un-crossed red blood cells and 2 units of FFP."

"Got it." Ava announced, already getting her stethoscope and placing it in Will's chest. "Decreased breath sounds in both hemithoracic cavities." She grabbed the FAST scan now. "Fluid on the pericardium, gonna need a chest tube."

The nurses started to run, grabbing what she needed.

"Can we get an X-Ray here?" Connor asked for the nurse.

"I'm sorry, just in the ED...It will take way too long." The reply made Connor look at Ava in almost despair.

Ava got the items she needed for the chest tube and started to open Will's chest, trying not to focus on anything else.

"We gonna need an OR-"

Connor was cut by a scream. Natalie was in the doorway, crying as all eyes were on her for a moment.

"What happened? Oh my God, Will."

Connor and Ava looked at each other, understanding what needed to be done.

"Right chest tube in. Going to the left side." Ava said.

Connor made his way to Natalie, her eyes begging for answer.

"It's a GSW, we don't know anything more than that" Connor almost screamed so Natalie could hear him from outside of the room. Maggie, who was now arriving, to heard too. Maggie hugged Nat as she cried, but the nurse kept looking at Connor as the said "it's not good." without making any sound. Maggie eyes closed and she holded Nat a little closer.

"Still hypotensive, two more units of blood now." Connor ordered as Ava finished the last chest tube.

"Heart rate decreased from 140s to 120s" Announced one nurse.

"Let's get him in the OR NOW!" Connor yelled.

"OR 2 is available."

They started to move Will. Natalie tried to look but the amount of blood coming from him made her turn away and hide her face in Maggie's chest. Maggie just watched as Will was being transported to the OR. She stopped looking for a moment to check her surroundings, one cop was making call, while the other was covering a body that stood in the middle of the hallway. Fresh blood still on the wall. Tears left her eyes without her knowledge. She watched as another alarm went off in the floor, this time coming from Nina Wheeler's room. She heard someone screaming Will's name, maybe it was the girl, but she couldn't do anything right now other than hold Nat.

Jay stormed through the door's, running inside the ED trying to find any familiar faces. He was still in his pajamas, barefeet, hair messy, nothing like the detective he were hours ago. He almost fell trying to stop himself when he saw April on the end of the nurse station, worry in her face as well.

"Where is he?" He screamed at her, immediately regretting.

"Third floor."

She barely finished the sentence and Jay was already running to get the elevator. It was barely a minute inside it, but for him it was hours. He kept pressing the number 3 as if it was going to make it go faster. He almost punched a nurse that left on the second floor for slowing him down, but he realize how stupid would it be.

When the door finally opened he came across a usual crime scene. The smell of blood were still in the air, making him want to puke. He looked to his side and saw the familiar yellow tape interdicting a hallway where the floor was red now, some sheet covered the body of the man who shot his brother, right in front of him, in the wall, the was a bullet hole with a dry trail of blooding, reminding him what his brother went through.

He saw Hailey, Ruzek and Voight standing there. "How could they arrive here first?" Was what Jay thought. The three of them came to Jay's encounter.

"It was Joseph." Jay said in a serious tone.

"Yes, we're still trying to find out how he was able to walk into the hospital and meet your brother." Voight said looking into Jay's eyes. "It was a single shot, in the abdomen. The uniforms took him down in the moment they saw it."

Jay stood in silence for a while, pacing through the room.

"Is he still in surgery? Do you guys know anything?" Jay asked them, stopping his walk for a moment.

"No, when we came here we only saw Goodwin taking Maggie and Natalie to another room, she told us he was in surgery with Connor." Hailey said in a soft voice.

Jay took a deep breath.

"Do you know in which OR?"

"Jay you can go there, man. You will only make things worst, ok?" Adam said to him.

He knew Adam was right but he just wanted to be sure Will was still alive. When Jay made mention to leave, he saw Dr. Charles arriving. "Great."

"Jay, why don't you come with me to the waiting room. I think will be better for you to be with Maggie and Dr. Manning right now." He said in his doctor's voice.

Jay nodded and followed him.

Arriving there he was Natalie almost pass out in a chair, Maggie holding her hand. The nurse saw him first, but didn't got up to talk to him, instead he sat by her side, in silence. After a few moments he started to realized how cold it was, and he finally noticed that he didn't change his clothes, the cold beneath his feet from the tile was almost unbearable. He tried to pull his feet up, but the chair was too small for it, Dr. Charles seemed to notice this and asked if he needed a coat and some shoes. He nodded, knowing that he would be no good to Will if he was freezing.

Almost an hour later the members of the intelligence came and stood by his side, Hailey with a hand on his shoulder, making him know she was there. He held her hand 'til the clothes and shoes came in and he had to let it go.

The sun was already rising when Connor and Ava appeared. Natalie and Maggie were sleeping, as well as Adam. Voight left in some point, but he didn't notice. Hailey was still by his side, and helped him to stay firm when he got up way too fast from the chair. Natalie and Maggie almost jumped.

"First you all need to know he's ok. But not out of the woods." It seems like everyone let out a long breath of relief, except for Jay, he wanted to know more and signed for Connor to continue. "We needed to do a left anterolateral thoracotomy, which made possible for us to access his heart by his left lung. Within the pericardium that was a large quantity of blood and thrombus that were evacuated. We found out that shot hit the mammary artery and as we were trying to suture it, he was still very hypotensive and -"

"Oh no…" Natalie let out, tears already falling.

Jay didn't follow and looked for Connor for answers.

"He was in cardiopulmonary arrest." Jay jaws dropped. So his brother died, even for a moment, he lost his brother. Suddenly breathing became harder and he tried to calm himself down remind himself that Will was good now. "We were able to bring him back after CPR, epi and defibrillation with 20J." Connor let the information sink in and kept going.

"As shot was made close it lacerated his subclavian artery that was suture. We used a coagulator to control the bleeding. After that he experienced his second cardiopulmonary arrest caused by a right ventricular failure along with a non-pumping left ventricle. We were also able to bring him back from that. Right now he's being transferred to the trauma intensive care unit on an epinephrine drip. I'm sorry but only family is allowed." Connor looked at Natalie almost as if he was saying sorry.

"I'm gonna talk to Goodwin, don't worry." Said Jay to her.

He was exhausted. Every word that came out of Connor mouth were dropped like a ten pounds weights in him. It felt like he didn't sleep for days, he couldn't fully process any of what was happening. Some time must had passed because Jay now was in front of Will's room. The glass door showed his reflection as he looked to his brother, he was a wreck.

"Jay? Jay?" Connor was almost screaming.

"I'm sorry." He said without looking at him.

"He's in bad shape ok? He may not be the Will we're used to. But you gotta be strong, he needs you."

Jay just nodded and made his way to his brother.

Will aged years in a few hours. He looked thinner, smaller, how could that be possible. Maybe it was just Jay's head. Connor stood there for a moment.

"I was talking to him, I supposed right before it happened." Jay said to Connor and the doctor just nodded, noticing that Jay needed to talk about it. "The case. Nina's. Made him remember when I was taken by Keyes." Tears fell from Jay's face to Will sheets. "So he was worried about me and called. I told him I was going to see in the morning. I didn't want to be like this." A sob came out of Jay's mouth as he curled up in the chair next to the bed, hands in his covering his face. Connor was a moment from breaking down too.

"Honestly. Please, Connor. Will he make out of this?" Jay said after collecting himself.

"We think so, but I can't promise you anything. He lost too much blood, and he had acidosis, hypothermia, coagulopathy, and dysrhythmias during the surgery that only were reversed after hours, but were reversed. Keep that in mind. Knowing Will, I would say that in a few weeks he's back." Connor finished with a smile. "Try to sleep, I'm gonna take him off sedation in a few hours and you look terrible."

Jay didn't close his eyes for a minute, looking at his brother's chest, making sure his heart was still beating.

Thanks to everyone who is reading this. It's really crazy for me that someone somewhere in this world is reading the things that I thought about in my room late at night by myself and maybe this someone is enjoying it. I'm so grateful. Thank you for everything!


	5. I cried the whole time

All the times that life got hard never made Will gave up. Neither when he had to work three jobs so he could afford med school. Neither when he had a lawsuit on him, threatening his future as a doctor. All of this, all the forks stuck in the road never made him want to give up on his life, on his future.

Now, lying in a hospital bed, helpless, feeling his brother's hand on his, without being able to move, occasionally he was able to dream.

The first time he dreamed wasn't a pleasant dream, he was in his high school's classroom. It was empty, no chairs, no teachers or students. He tried to escape the room by opening its door, but no matter how hard he tried it wasn't moving. He tried to break the windows but it was no use. He was sweating, the heat was increasing fast and without any warning he felt like his whole body was in flames. He was burning alive but he could not scream, he could not move. Voices around him were saying words that he could not understand.

He was in misery for a long time 'til darkness came.

Then he was in a hospital bed, but no machines, no tubes, no wires were in sight. He was just lying on the bed. No wounds. He sat on the bed and was faced by Jay sitting on a chair beside his bed.

"...So you decided to jump and you started to roll and broke your leg." Jay was telling a story, he looked fine but his voice was sad. "So you couldn't walk and I had to take you to the hospital in my bike, 'cause mom and dad weren't at home."

Will remembered that and tried to tell his point of view to Jay, but it looked like Jay couldn't hear him, so he just made himself comfortable and heard his brothers telling him childhood stories.

Suddenly it changed. He was now walking down a street, he couldn't quite put a finger on where it was, but it was so familiar. He also couldn't remember how he got there, but walking felt good, better than lying a bed.

He kept walking 'til he fell on his knees while coughing. It hurted, so he grabbed his throat hoping to make it stop. When he looked down he saw his esophagus on the ground.

Horror spread through him. On the distance he heard voices. Connor maybe, but it was so far away that we couldn't make sense of what he was saying. Jay's voice was there too, saying something along the lines of "everything is fine."

It came to him again. The hallway. The shot. The hospital bed.

Darkness came back, dreams of walking and freedom now far away from him.

He tried to speak, maybe Connor and Jay could hear him. He took a deep breath, or at least he thought he did, when did speaking became so hard?

"Hey, Jay" he tried to say, but a mumbling noise came out instead, but it was enough for Jay.

3 whole days has passed since the worst night of his life, and now Will was finally out of the vent and could wake up at any minute. The any minute was almost two hours. The first day was hell. Will had a high fever and the doctors took hours to bring it down, but his brothers temperature eventually came down. Just a little reminder that not everything was fine. That Will wasn't out of the woods yet. Yet.

Now Jay was following Connor's moves as he took the breathing tube out of Will. He could see how uncomfortable the procedure was and sense how helpless he was in this whole situation, he could only be there by the bed, monitoring numbers he did not understand and praying for Will to be listening the words he spend the 3 whole days saying.

"He took him out of sedation, he should be back any minute." Connor said.

Jay's chest started to burn with anxiety. Any minute. Any minute Will could be back, but how? He was never going to be the same Will, not after everything. Not after always bleeding out in a hallway, two cardiac arrests and a three days coma. But he was going to be back, and Jay would help him. That was the only certain thing he knew in this whole situation.

Took Will two hours to finally came back. He didn't opened his eyes in a gasp like in the movies, instead he made a incomprehensive sound. It was enough to make Jay jump out of his seat and be closer to his brother.

"Hey. You're okay." Jay said with a smile on his face. For the first time in days it was sounding true to him.

"I cried the whole time you were riding" Will said.

It took Jay by surprise, he tried to make sense of his words but it was in vain. Still, it wasn't enough to bring him down, so he just tried to follow.

"Yeah you were, Will. What else were you doing?"

But Will was back into sleep. Maybe now he was really sleeping. With a smile, Jay came back to his chair and waited for his brothers to wake up again.


	6. So this is the end?

It has been almost a whole day since Will woke up from coma. Soon after he said his first words to Jay he fell back to sleep and returned after a hour, time enough for Jay to call Rhodes.

"That's good, Jay!" Connor said, relief all over his face. He was expecting for Will to wake up on the second day, the reassuring words he kept saying to calm Jay were starting to get emptier with every passing hour that his friend was in coma.

The thing was, Will reflexes, responses were still below expectations, and the fear that the two cardiac arrests he had left consequences kept increasing each passing minute. But Will woke up.

He was there on the second time Will regain conscious and Jay jumped out of a chair. Will's eyes couldn't focus on anything, but Jay kept talking to him anyway. After a few moments, when he finally noticed Will had truly woke up and were alert of his surroundings he asked:

"Good to have you back, buddy! Can you tell me your name?"

Will took a moment to notice where the voice was coming from and match his eyes with Connor's.

"You know my name" Will's voice came out hoarse. Jay laughed with tears in his eyes.

"Come on. Make me happy" Connor smiled.

"William Halstead."

"Can you follow my finger?"

"What happened to me?" He said while his eyes followed Connor finger up and down, left and right.

That question made the tension in the room rise, suddenly the weight of the last three days were back.

"Well, Will -"

"You were attacked. Shot, to me more specific." Jay interrupted Connor. "Everything is good now. You are good."

Connor stared at Jay with a furious look in his eyes, but Jay knew it was no use avoiding the inevitable. Some maniac felt jealous of Will's saving the girl he kidnapped and decided to kill Will for it. That were the facts, that what happened. In the end of the day, Will should've known that he survived the impossible.

"Oh." That was all Will could say. He looked down to his chest, trying to find where the bullet went through. He raised his hand in the direction from which the discomfort of the bandages came, but was stopped by Connor.

"Try not to. You know the drill."

He nodded.

A few more tests were made on Will, all indicating that he would make a full recovery.

It was close to 6 p.m when Connor decided that Will was able to receive visits, and as soon as Jay shared the news the room became a meeting point to Chicago's first responders.

Casey, Severide, Hermann were the first to stop by and check on the doctor, what surprised Will and Jay, in a good way.

The firefighters told them that everyone in the 51 were hoping for his recovery and how they couldn't believe what happened at first. Severide even remembered Will's first day on Med, and joked that "you can't say there were no warnings about this being a dangerous job." That made Will think about how he survived a terrorist attack and a shot in his chest, maybe he had a guardian angel after all.

After the firefighters said their goodbyes, it was time for the P.D team to show up. Jay and Will couldn't thank those people enough, they were by Jay's side all the time and all of them took the case personally. During the worsts days of Jay's life his phone was full of messages of support from his team. In all of the texts he could see how they really cared about his brothers and his well being. It was hard to shake the feeling that although they were the only Halstead's in Chicago, they were not alone. Jay could see that Will was thinking the same thing when he looked at his brother's eyes.

To see Platt, Voight, Ruzek, Atwater, Antonio, Burgess and Upton surrounding his brother, laughing and doing harmless jokes about how Will almost killed them from stress was the best gift Jay could ever ask for. He wasn't even paying attention to the topic of the conversation, he was too busy trying to capture the moment.

Will was trying really hard to stay awake, but was losing the battle. He was so tired that he doesn't remember when they left, leaving him alone with his brother.

"Jay." He called for his brother's attention.

"What happened? Are you in pain?"

"No. Where's Nat?"

From all the visitors he had, she was the only one he actually expected to see. He kept looking at the door, waiting for her to come and kiss him, tell him how much she missed him and how glad she was that he was okay, but the day ended she was nowhere to be seen.

"She was here the whole first night. But I think it kinda was too overwhelming for her, you know?" Jay tried to easy it for his brother. "I've been keeping her updated, I just think that being here was too much for her."

Will didn't really know to take that. He was in a hospital bed, after almost dying and it was too much for her. She couldn't be by his side 'cause it was too much for her, it was almost funny. So he just nodded at Jay and decided to go to sleep.

"Thank you for being here, bother." He mumbled to Jay and let the darkness take him.

On the next day, Jay waited Will to wake up so he could get his breakfast, leaving his brother with Choi for a few moments. No matter how much Will loved his brother, the 4 days in a hospital were starting to take a toll in him and now he only wished for Jay to go home and get a good 8 hours sleep, too much to ask.

While talking to Choi, a knock at the door caught their attention and Will gladly saw Nina there, still in wheelchair, but looking so much better than the last time he saw her.

The nurse helped her walk into the room and there were a moment of silence between Will and her.

The red haired doctor tried to adjust in bed, but a sharp pain in his chest made him stop. So Choi put the bed on a sitting position almost in the same moment as Nina got up and sat on the edge of the bed. Noticing the need for privacy, Ethan and the nurse left the room, not before saying "call us if you need anything."

"I'm sorry this happened to you." Nina said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I'm sorry too. You know this is not your fault right?" Will said worried about her mental state.

"No. Not for a minute I thought about it. It was all him."

Will nodded at her. The girl was stronger than anyone he had ever met, she had been through hell and were still there, doing her best.

"I'm really glad to see that you're okay." He said.

"He tried to break me and end me, but I won't let. He already stole so many things from me, he won't steal my future."

"I won't let him steal mine too. We're going to be okay"

She almost laughed.

"Who would say that we were going to end up here?"

"Well, being shot in the hospital wasn't the craziest thing that happened to me here. Did you know that I survived a terrorist attack on my first day here?"

She looked like she didn't believe in him.

"It's true. A guy blew himself up saying he had something worst than ebola. Me and the rest of the E.D staff were on lockdown 'til we were cleared. I remember helping the people on the room not knowing if we were going to make out alive. That was crazy."

"And why you didn't run away from this hospital?" She asked with humor.

"I like the adrenaline. And I realized that I needed to do some changes in my life that day, face a few things..."

They sat in silence for a while.

"I spoke to my parents the other day. By myself."

Will's face light up.

"And how was that? Were you scared?"

"Terrified. But they were cool. I think we're going to be okay."

They stood there, talking for minutes that felt like hours. During the whole time they were talking they really understood each other, the little victories they had were trophies they happily shared. Soon hope returned into their eyes. Maybe they were going to be okay in the end.

 **Hey guys. This was my first fanfic, thank you for reading it.  
I'm so grateful, hope you guys enjoyed it. **


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